1 comments about Costume Jewelry: How to Compare & Value (Miller's How to Compare & Value).

1. It looks good and has been promised from Amazon for months; where is it?

No comments about Turquoise: Mines, Mineral, & Wearable Art (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

No comments about A Field Guide to Australian Opals.

3 comments about A World of Earrings: Africa, Asia, America (Ghysels Collection).

1. I approach this book purely as an artist seeking inspiration for my own jewelry designs, and for this I give A World of Earrings five stars. The photography is beautifully clear and sharp, offering precise detail under excellent lighting. The jewelry pieces are shown quite large, allowing you to see all the details. It is true that the descriptions are placed in the back of the book, and it might be a little inconvenient for some to flip back and forth between photos and descriptions, but I actually applaud this design decision because I prefer to see the jewelry itself without distracting blocks of text. As an artist, not a jewelry historian, I have to say this book fulfills all of my expectations and is well worth the price.



2. The book is beautifully illustrated with full color photos that are exceptional in quality. I think it would have been helpful to show how some of the earrings are actually worn, either on a mannequin head or a real person. One other feature I found inconvenient was the location of the descriptive text , which is clear at the back of the book, instead of under or in back of each illustration. The reader has to keep flipping back and forth between the full-sized photo in front and the text at the end. However, it still provides a good general survey of ethnic earrings from Africa, Asia and the Americas.



3. ...as with the other volumes published thus far about the Ghysels collection (World of Rings, Splendor of Ethnic Jewelry), one is left thirsting for an accompanying volume of scholarship. Broad introductions to the regions represented and short captions relegated to the end of the book are what we're given instead, often without dates for the pieces shown. A gorgeous and inspiring visual resource- still one of my favorites on ethnic jewelry, for the sheer beauty of the pieces included- but a bit frustrating to the jewelry historian.

No comments about Creative Variations in Jewelry Design (Schiffer Design Book).

1 comments about Indian Jewelry of the American Southwest.

1. This book gives a good general description of the the traditional types of jewelry available. Since I,m more into bracelets I would have liked to see a little more on this subject.

2 comments about Diamonds Famous & Fatal : The History, Mystery and Lore of the World's Most Famous Gem.

1. The history of the famous diamonds is just fascinating. This book is very thorough and Mr. Kendall really gave me an education. From ancient India to present day, from the Maharaja's to Louis XV to Victoria to Elizabeth Taylor, powerful people have aways coveted rare diamonds. The story of the Louis XV's French Blue is probably the most famous, but all of these stories are interesting, really a fun book to read. If you have any interest in diamond's or just interesting history in general then I believe you will not be disappointed in this wonderful book...it's hard to believe what people will do to possess something noone else has.



2. In Diamonds Famous & Fatal: The History, Mystery & Lore Of The World's Most Precious Gem, Leo Kendall shares his fascination for the ways in which diamonds have influenced the history of the world. All the major diamond finds of the centuries are chronicled, examined, and described. A wealth of anecdotal and historical stories of outstanding diamonds are dramatically recounted and range from the Koh-i-Noor (dating back to at least 1526 and which affected the course of the Mogul Empire and finally ending up a part of the British Crown Jewels) to Henry VIII's diamond collar, the collection of Louis XVI, the Romanov gems, and more. Here also are the stories of such luminaries in diamond history as Cecil Rhodes and such diamond mines as the DeBeers. If you have an interest in the history, legend and lore of diamonds, the give a careful reading to Leo Kendall's Diamonds Famous & Fatal!

1 comments about Rhinestones!: A Collector's Handbook And Price Guide (A Schiffer book for collectors).

1. A very good book for the rhinestone jewelery collector, although quiet concentrated on the "big" names, especially de Lillo. Very interesting historical background pertaining to origin of the trade and numerous, excellent quality photographs.

No comments about Jewelry From Sarah Coventry And Emmons.

1 comments about The World's Great Treasures.

1. I have now spent many hours with this book with the hope of giving you more details. This book has captivated me. Instead of giving you the table of contents I will tell you a story about a woman I met in Miami Florida twenty-five years ago. She was an artist with some sinister connections and she placed a small solid gold Elephant in my had, it was about the size of my computer mouse but its weight drew my had to the floor at #8211; I was out classed I surely could not have afforded her or her Elephant. This magic book evoked that story I love dealing with these items and meeting people who share my interest in them. In each of the great civilizations ( From the time of the Pharaohs to the present had,, artists working with working with gold and other precious metals have created objects of eternal beauty, beauty so rich and well defined that it sets the standards for each succeeding age across the chasms of time for centuries and even millenniums With 580 superb and vivid color photographs. Some of them covering two pages this book is sort of a portal across time. The Worlds great art treasures will supply you with the next best felling to actually seeing and holding these objects. If you are an artist this is an idea book, if you are a jeweler this is an inspiration book, if you are a costumer or movie or television producer this is a source book, if you are a writer this is a reference book if you are student of high culture across the ages this is your stuff. More and more history is moving away from it textual obsession and back into the world because its public demands it, and in most cases is paying for it. Resplendence of the Spanish Monarchy-Renaissance Tapestries and Armor from the Patrimonio Nacional Antonio Dominguez Ortiz, Jose A. Godoy (Contributor), Concha Carretero (Contributor) Metropolitan Museum of Art. ASIN: 0810964082 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.79 x 12.40 x 9.40. 172 pages Hardcover copyright 1992, as new condition (Still Shrink Wrapped). This book is the result of the collaboration of two of the important forces in the world of art, Abrams Publishing , and, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is the sort of item that makes a bookseller weep. This book is the physical record of Spanish Monarchy's Commemorative exhibit which took place at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York honoring the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, this breathtaking collection of Armor an Tapestries covering the 16th Century from the birth of Charles V in 1500, to 1598 The death of Philip II. With an Introduction by Spain's King Juan Carlos I is really Spain's gift to The America's and the world. Not just the world of art, however, because this wonderful book has something for everyone. From the Renaissance art historian to the weekend member of SCA (Society for Creative anachronism. This book will fascinate of the student of material culture, (like myself) who might want make an analysis of 16th Century Hapsburg Material culture. It would be just as interesting to the recreations or the late Medieval Interpreter Someone, for example who might what to try his hand at making a reproduction of the worlds best armor from the 16th Century one who might want to Look at the full-page detail on the joint of the suit of armor on page 116 and 117. I could write hundreds of more words about this book, and I might even touch on the historical narrative, and, allegorical tropes within the twelve tapestries presented but I must stop somewhere. You have Sword armor tapestries in detail where they could probably be computer scanned and reproduced if one chose, of course within the limits of copyright. This is a time when I wish I had a scanner but Probably am lucky I don't This is an amazing combination of Tapestries and armor, two very disparate art forms, which are collected together to portray the taste culture and formidable power of Hapsburg monarchs Charles V And his son Phillip II in Spain during the 16th century in this catalogue of an actual historical exhibition which Celebrates the quincentennial of the European discovery of America and introduces American audiences to two of the Patrimonia's most prized collections. The 157 new color photos focus on both the complete works and Specific details in each, with complementary text describing each piece.

   Philip Kaveny Reviewer